By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
December 5, 2025
As Democratic lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to stop the redistricting bill from advancing in the Indiana House, Hoosiers supporting the new map gathered in the south atrium of the Statehouse to convince state senators to vote yes on reconfiguring Indiana’s congressional districts.
The rally was hosted by Turning Point Action and seemed to be the largest showing of support for redistricting since the debate over redrawing the congressional maps began in August with a visit by Vice President JD Vance. Estimated to be about 200, the crowd was smaller than the crowd of redistricting opponents who rallied in the same place on Monday and, prior to the beginning of the program, more subdued, not chanting slogans or cheering.
However, the pro-redistricting crowd was more diverse in age with a mix of middle-aged and older adults and a contingent of young adults. Some in the group were wearing red baseball caps and at least one man was sporting a Trump jersey. Three men held an American flag and several people wore lapel stickers that said, “Pass the Map.”
The program began with students from Turning Point USA chapters at various Indiana colleges and universities. Then a string of elected officials, including Gov. Mike Braun and Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, took turns addressing the crowd and encouraging the state to pass a new congressional district map.
John Denmark stood behind the crowd, wearing a red shirt, cowboy hat and red, white and blue necktie. He said he supported redistricting because Hoosiers need to have better representatives. Then, he added, Indiana needs not just more Republicans in federal and state government but more conservative Republicans.
Denmark expressed frustration with property taxes and said the role of the federal government should be limited so states and local governments can have more control over things like education and environmental issues. Also, he said he would like to see the Democratic Party “not be so crazy” and field quality candidates to run against Republicans. That would make “Republicans better,” he said.
Many of the speakers and several people in the crowd said Indiana had to redraw its congressional map to balance the maps from places like California and Illinois. They said those Democratic-led states had gerrymandered their congressional districts so Democrats could gain control of Congress; therefore, they said, Indiana had to bolster its Republican representation on Capitol Hill to ensure Hoosiers’ voice would not be drowned out.
That reasoning echoed what House Republicans had been saying all week about the proposed map in House Bill 1032. House Democrats have decried the new configuration, which splits Marion County, home to the state’s largest minority population, into four separate districts, as racial gerrymandering and a violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Currently, most of Marion County comprises the 7th Congressional District and is represented in Congress by Democrat Andre Carson, the state’s only Black congressman.
Rep. Andrew Ireland, R-Indianapolis, left the debate in the House to briefly attend the Turning Point rally. He championed breaking Marion County apart because, he said, Carson would lose his seat.
“I actually think we should call this a jobs bill because this is going to be the first time that Andre Carson’s ever had to work a real job in his entire life,” Ireland told the cheering crowd.
Chuck Kern, of Indianapolis, agreed with Ireland. He favors redistricting, saying Indiana should not play “nice and fair” because Democratic states are reconfiguring their maps to turn the Congress blue. His biggest concern is “the corruption in government” and, like Ireland, he believes redistricting will create a clean sweep for Indiana Republicans in the 2026 mid-term election.
“Carson, as far as I’m concerned, works for (former Democratic House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi,” Kerns said. “He’s not representing Indiana.”
Opponents of redistricting were present at the Turning Point rally. Carolyn Siegfried and Cheryl Gregory were among the group who lined the railing of the balcony above the south atrium, waving signs and yelling down on the pro-new-map crowd.
“We’re hoping they will see there are others that don’t agree with what they believe in,” Siegfried said, adding that not all Hoosiers want to be represented by Republicans. “They are diluting our voice.”
Beckwith, a Republican, pointed to opponents and called them hypocrites. He energized the supporters, bouncing from one side of the podium to the other and inspiring a big cheer from the crowd by proclaiming, “We are winning in Indiana.”
Beckwith disputed the polling that shows a majority of Hoosiers do not want the Indiana General Assembly to redraw the congressional map. He claimed the “corrupt media” was lying when it reported redistricting had little support because Hoosiers “overwhelmingly in Indiana want this to happen.”
“So, don’t let them scare you into thinking somehow this is illegal or immoral or wrong,” Beckwith said, referencing the opponents to redistricting. “It’s not. They just know we’re starting to wake up and fight fire with fire, just like President Trump told us to do.”
The crowd roared and applauded in response.
Beckwith, who has advocated for mid-decade redistricting for months, pulled on a red baseball cap with “Indiana 9-0” emblazoned on the front and said, “We’re going all the way, 9-0 map.” He said Indiana needed to redraw its congressional map and fill all nine of the state’s congressional seats with Republicans in order to save the republic.
“The Democratic Party has been taken over by Marxists,” Beckwith shouted to the crowd. “They’ve been taken over by radicals. They hate America. They hate you. They hate people like Charlie Kirk, who they shot and killed.”
Kirk, conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA, was killed in September at a campus rally at Utah Valley University. Tyler Robinson, the man accused of shooting Kirk, is not registered with any political party and did not espouse any political views. Prosecutors believe Robinson was angered by Kirk’s rhetoric against transgender people.
“It is our job to fight back,” Beckwith continued. “President (Donald) Trump has taught us how to do it. It’s time Indiana listens to be President’s call and to be bold and be courageous.”
Braun took a swing at the Indiana Senate and said that GOP lawmakers who did not vote for redistricting be challenged at the ballot box. As the debate over redistricting has simmered since August, Braun has gotten more vocal in his support while the upper chamber of the legislature has remained divided.
In November, Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, said his Republican caucus did not have the votes to support mid-decade redistricting and would not be convening in a special session to consider redistricting, rejecting the governor’s call for a special session. However, Bray reversed after Organization Day on Nov. 18 and called the Senate to return to the Statehouse on Dec. 8 to debate a new map.
“They were the biggest impediment to property tax reform,” Braun said of the Indiana Senate. “They’re doing so many other things, if they dig in on this issue (and stop redistricting), … it won’t end. That means you’re going to have to clean house to get real conservatives in serving Hoosiers.”
U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana’s 3rd Congressional District spoke to the crowd along with Republican state Sens. Liz Brown, of Fort Wayne, Gary Byrne, of Byrneville, and Mike Young, of Indianapolis.
Young recognized two Republican candidates who are running for the state senate: Jeff Ellington, who is running for retiring Sen. Eric Bassler’s seat in District 39, and Paula Copenhaver, who is challenging Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette. He then encouraged the crowd to back those two candidates.
Also, Young defended mid-decade redistricting, saying Indiana could help save the country by sending more Republicans to Congress.
“People think it’s cheating when there’s nothing against the law, nothing against the Constitution,” Young said of mid-decade redistricting. “They can’t tell me what rule we’ve broken.”
Colleen Steffen, executive editor of The Statehouse File at Franklin College, edited this article. She has worked as a feature writer and editor at newspapers in Indiana, Kentucky and Florida.
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org.
